Tag: Wonderboy

Following his controversial unanimous decision defeat to Darren Till at May’s UFC Liverpool, top UFC welterweight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson took the loss like a true pro and didn’t complain.

However, that’s not exactly the case at the current moment.

Thompson is now recovering from a significant knee injury sustained in the fight with Till, and he recently told BJPenn.com that after watching the fight, he believes it stemmed from a second-round side kick to the knee, a tactic that slowed him throughout the fight but had a far more devastating effect when he heard ‘cracking and popping’:

“I did finally watch the fight man. Me and my coaches came back and watched the fight. You know, there was one thing that really slowed me down during the fight and that was the side kick to the knee. It caught me just right in the center of the knee in the first or second round. I believe it was the second round if I remember correctly.

“But yeah man, I heard some cracking and popping and it slowed me down tremendously so it was hard for me to move around the way I wanted to. I was also worried that if he hit it again the fight would be over. Not just that but also my career. It would have been devastating to tear my ACL for a second time. But yeah after watching the fight, you know, there’s always something you can go back and work on.”

‘Wonderboy’ elaborated further on just how serious his injury from the fight with Till was, revealing that he did tear his MCL in the bout but thankfully would not require more surgery:

“You know I tore my MCL in the fight with Till. We did an MRI and thankfully nothing else was damaged. No surgery is required for this injury but I have to give it at least eight weeks to heal properly before I can get back to training.”

Facing an eight-week recovery before he can return to training, ‘Wonderboy’ agreed that side kicks to the knee should be banned from MMA competition. He cited recent instances such as Robert Whittaker’s torn ACL in his first bout versus Yoel Romero last year, noting that Whittaker chose to use the move himself during the rematch, and also stated his belief that Till was legitimately trying to injure him:

“Yeah I feel you there man,” said Thompson. “I honestly think that strike should be made illegal. It could end somebodies career. You know Robert Whittaker had to have ACL surgery following his first fight with Yoel Romero due to that particular strike. And as you could see, Robert Whittaker made sure to beat Yoel Romero to the punch in their second fight. He threw a lot more than he did this time around.

“It is just a very dangerous technique. I think a lot of fighters throw that strike but sometimes it is for different reasons. When I fought Jorge Masvidal he used that same side kick to the knee. But when Jorge threw it, he was doing so just to keep me away. Not in an attempt to injure my knee. But when I was in the cage fighting Till it felt like ok this guy is trying to break my leg. It was like he had intentions of ripping everything out in my knee. That’s how I felt anyway. Like this dude is really trying to injure me in here. I think it an ugly strike and that it should be made illegal.”

The post Stephen Thomspons Claims Controversial Move Should Be Banned From MMA appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

The harrowing video of Darren Till’s UFC Liverpool weight cut is causing a stir in the MMA world.

The 25-year-old rising star missed weight by three-and-a-half pounds before his main event bout against Stephen Thompson in his home city of Liverpool, England, forcing him to pay 30 percent of his purse to “Wonderboy” and weigh in at no more than 188 pounds on fight day.

He did those things and went on to win a close, controversial unanimous decision over Till in a call many are still calling hometown cooking almost a week later. However, when video of Till cutting weight (he’s known as the biggest welterweight in the UFC by a sizable margin) was released by his sponsor Paddy Power, a controversy of a different kind arose.

With weight misses seemingly an all-too-common theme at early weigh-ins for every UFC card and the health impacts of huge cuts a growing hot topic in MMA, a prominent combats sports commissioner is calling for Till’s corner to be suspended for putting his health in jeopardy.

Mike Mazzulli, the chief of the Association of Boxing Commissions and the director of the Mohegan Tribe Department of Athletic Regulation, told MMAjunkie that Till’s weight cut, where he reportedly lost his vision momentarily and used “colonic hydrotherapy” to lose more weight, that another death from weight cutting is a foregone conclusion if people like Till’s corner continue allowing fighters to go to such extremes. Because of that, he believes Till’s corner should be suspended:

“I was appalled seeing seven people sit there and push this kid to the point where he lost his vision.

“They should suspend those corner people that tried to help him cut that kind of weight, first of all,” he said.

With the video causing so much discussion, the UFC is reportedly investigating Till’s cut. California State Athletic Commission Executive Director Andy Foster, who has long championed efforts to make weight cutting safer in MMA, also plans to make a statement on the disturbing video.

There was talk it’s already time for Till to move up to middleweight even when it’s only known that he missed weight a second time, and the video obviously makes matters significantly worse. If Till were fighting under Mazzulli’s licensing jurisdiction, he said he would have to provide him with a doctor’s note that it was safe for him to compete at welterweight.

But ultimately, he said it was a fighter’s team’s responsibility to protect the safety of their athlete:

“They think it’s OK to do what they did to that kid? They’re going to get him killed,” he said. “Right now, I am so upset at this whole industry.”

Mazzulli closed by saying that the death of a fighter could follow if steps aren’t taken to reduce such drastic cuts, something that would be completely pointless and ridiculous considering it wasn’t even in a fight:

“You’re going to be sitting there with a girlfriend, with parents, who lost their kid to something so stupid, for no apparent reason,” Mazzulli said. “What’s going to happen is you’re going to have a mother and a father losing their child over weight-cutting to fight – not in a fight.”

The post Commissioner Sounds Off On Darren Till’s Brutal Weight Cut Video appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Darren Till has completed a massive rise up the rankings, but it’s sure to be controversial.

The 25-year-old future star won a close and controversial unanimous decision over former title contender Stephen Thompson in the main event of last weekend’s (Sun. May 27, 2018) UFC Liverpool, a fight that’s largely dominated recent MMA headlines for its head-scratching result.

It was a bout short on much relevant action following a ton of hype for the UFC’s debut in Liverpool, yet many questioned if Till truly deserved the victory overall, as he lacked many clear moments of offense. Two 49-46 scores in his favor were egregious if we’re honest, and many prominent MMA personalities have weighed in with the same opinion more or less.

However, that apparently doesn’t matter to the media members who vote on the official UFC rankings. Previous No. 8 Till rose a ridiculous six spots to No. 2 on the latest update, jumping him ahead of previous No. 3 Colby Covington, who will meet Rafael dos Anjos for the interim belt at June 9’s UFC 225, following a highly debatable decision in a fight that certainly didn’t deliver on the sizable buzz it brought.

The contentious victory also had a cascading effect on much of the Top 10 at 170 pounds, with Thompson dropping two spots to No. 3, Robbie Lawler dropping two spots to No. 5, Kamaru Usman and Demian Maia dropping one spot apiece to Nos. 6 and 7, respectively, and Jorge Masvidal falling two spots to No. 9. Neil Magny rose one spot to No. 8 for his TKO win against short-notice replacement Craig White in the UFC Liverpool co-main event.

In other rankings movement, the middleweight division saw a decent shakeup after Michael Bisping somewhat surprisingly announced his retirement this week.

Do you agree with Till’s massive rise for his not-so-impressive ‘win’?

Check out the full updated rankings via UFC.com here:

POUND-FOR-POUND
1 Demetrious Johnson
2 Georges St-Pierre
3 Conor McGregor
3 Stipe Miocic
5 Daniel Cormier
6 Max Holloway
7 TJ Dillashaw
8 Tyron Woodley
9 Khabib Nurmagomedov
10 Cris Cyborg
11 Tony Ferguson
12 Amanda Nunes
13 Robert Whittaker
14 Cody Garbrandt
15 Rose Namajunas

FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Demetrious Johnson
1 Joseph Benavidez
2 Henry Cejudo
3 Ray Borg
4 Jussier Formiga
5 Sergio Pettis
6 John Moraga
7 Wilson Reis
8 Alexandre Pantoja
9 Brandon Moreno
10 Dustin Ortiz
11 Ben Nguyen
12 Matheus Nicolau
13 Tim Elliott
14 Deiveson Figueiredo
15 Magomed Bibulatov

BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: TJ Dillashaw
1 Cody Garbrandt
2 Dominick Cruz
3 Raphael Assuncao
4 Jimmie Rivera
5 Marlon Moraes
6 John Lineker
7 John Dodson
8 Aljamain Sterling
9 Bryan Caraway
10 Pedro Munhoz
11 Cody Stamann
12 Rob Font
13 Thomas Almeida
14 Brett Johns
15 Eddie Wineland

FEATHERWEIGHT
Champion: Max Holloway
1 Brian Ortega
2 Jose Aldo
3 Frankie Edgar
4 Jeremy Stephens
5 Cub Swanson
6 Josh Emmett
7 Ricardo Lamas
8 Chan Sung Jung
9 Renato Moicano
10 Darren Elkins
11 Mirsad Bektic
12 Zabit Magomedsharipov
13 Myles Jury
14 Dooho Choi
15 Calvin Kattar

LIGHTWEIGHT
Champion: Khabib Nurmagomedov
1 Conor McGregor
2 Tony Ferguson
3 Eddie Alvarez
4 Dustin Poirier
5 Kevin Lee
6 Edson Barboza
7 Justin Gaethje
8 Nate Diaz
9 Michael Chiesa
10 Al Iaquinta
11 James Vick
12 Anthony Pettis
13 Alexander Hernandez
14 Paul Felder
15 Olivier Aubin-Mercier

WELTERWEIGHT
Champion: Tyron Woodley
1 Rafael Dos Anjos +1
2 Darren Till +6
3 Stephen Thompson -2
4 Colby Covington -1
5 Robbie Lawler -2
6 Kamaru Usman -1
7 Demian Maia -1
8 Neil Magny +1
9 Jorge Masvidal -2
10 Santiago Ponzinibbio
11 Donald Cerrone
12 Gunnar Nelson
13 Leon Edwards +1
14 Alex Oliveira -1
15 Dong Hyun Kim

MIDDLEWEIGHT
Champion: Robert Whittaker
1 Yoel Romero
2 Luke Rockhold
3 Chris Weidman
4 Kelvin Gastelum
5 Jacare Souza
6 Derek Brunson +1
7 David Branch +1
8 Lyoto Machida +1
8 Brad Tavares +1
10 Uriah Hall +1
11 Antonio Carlos Junior +1
12 Thiago Santos
13 Paulo Costa +1
14 Elias Theodorou +1
15 Krzysztof Jotko *NR

LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Daniel Cormier
1 Alexander Gustafsson
2 Volkan Oezdemir
3 Glover Teixeira
4 Ilir Latifi
5 Jan Blachowicz
6 Jimi Manuwa
7 Mauricio Rua
7 Ovince Saint Preux
9 Corey Anderson
10 Misha Cirkunov
11 Patrick Cummins
12 Dominick Reyes
13 Gadzhimurad Antigulov
14 Tyson Pedro
15 Gian Villante

HEAVYWEIGHT
Champion: Stipe Miocic
1 Francis Ngannou
2 Alistair Overeem
3 Alexander Volkov
4 Curtis Blaydes
5 Derrick Lewis +1
6 Mark Hunt +1
7 Junior Dos Santos +8
8 Marcin Tybura
9 Andrei Arlovski
10 Aleksei Oleinik
11 Stefan Struve
12 Tai Tuivasa
13 Shamil Abdurakhimov
14 Justin Willis
15 Junior Albini *NR

WOMEN’S STRAWWEIGHT
Champion: Rose Namajunas
1 Joanna Jedrzejczyk
2 Jessica Andrade
3 Claudia Gadelha
4 Karolina Kowalkiewicz
5 Tecia Torres
6 Carla Esparza
7 Michelle Waterson
8 Felice Herrig
9 Tatiana Suarez
10 Cortney Casey
11 Alexa Grasso
12 Randa Markos
13 Nina Ansaroff
14 Joanne Calderwood
15 Angela Hill

WOMEN’S FLYWEIGHT
Champion: Nicco Montano
1 Valentina Shevchenko
2 Sijara Eubanks
3 Lauren Murphy
4 Alexis Davis
5 Katlyn Chookagian
6 Barb Honchak
7 Liz Carmouche
8 Roxanne Modafferi
9 Jessica-Rose Clark
10 Jessica Eye
11 Ashlee Evans-Smith
12 Andrea Lee
13 Mara Romero Borella
14 Paige VanZant
15 Gillian Robertson *NR

WOMEN’S BANTAMWEIGHT
Champion: Amanda Nunes
1 Holly Holm
2 Ketlen Vieira
3 Julianna Pena
4 Raquel Pennington
5 Germaine de Randamie
6 Cat Zingano
7 Marion Reneau
8 Sara McMann
9 Aspen Ladd
10 Bethe Correia
11 Lina Lansberg +3
12 Irene Aldana -1
13 Lucie Pudilova -1
14 Sarah Moras -1
15 Gina Mazany

The post UFC Rankings Update: Darren Till Soars Following Controversial Win appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.